Paintball games are today played with sophisticated paintball markers that can shoot as fast as the finger can pull the trigger. The marker is equipped with a fixed bulk loader which is mounted onto the paintball inlet of the marker. The paintballs are gravity fed from the loader into the paintball inlet of the marker often with the aid of a motorized flow assistor paddle or wheel located in the loader. The flow assistor is activated when a sensor in the neck of the loader senses an absence of paintballs leading down into the paintball inlet of the marker.
Many problems exist with these conventional loaders. Because the paintballs are gravity fed, the paintball marker must be held in a substantially vertical orientation in order that paintballs can be fed into the marker. As the angle of orientation of the marker changes away from the vertical, the efficiency of the paintball feed is reduced. At some critical angle, which varies depending on the design of the loader, paintball feed into the inlet of the marker, stops completely, making the marker ineffective. Furthermore, the sensors located in the neck of the loader, upon detecting the lack of paintball flow, will activate the flow assistor in an attempt to initiate paintball flow. The noise caused by the flow assistor actuation can inadvertently give away the location of the game player to others. While the activation of the flow assistor is important to maintain paintball flow, it is advantageous to reduce the frequency of activation to reduce the risk of disclosing the player's location to others. Furthermore, when a player moves a marker with a partially full loader, the paintballs inside the loader can rattle, also giving away the player's location.
Another common problem with conventional loaders is that the process for refilling an empty loader is both cumbersome and time consuming. The end cap on the loader must be opened and the player must fill the loader by pouring paintballs from a paintball storage tube, which is typically carried on the player's belt. The reloading process, while slow, is also prone to causing unwanted noise.
Another problem with conventional loaders is that the power source for the motor can fail during play, and is difficult and time consuming to replace. The power source can fail for several reasons, including a hardware failure or malfunction, or because the battery has been depleted of its stored energy.
Consequently, there is a need for a paintball loader apparatus for a marker that has at least one of the following features: the loader enables the marker to be operated in any orientation; the loader reduces unwanted noise from the flow assistor device and from the paintballs; and the loader enables the player to reload the loader with new paintballs and with a fresh power source quickly.